Alex Welsh & Friends

Top line British Traditional Jazz band with some star guests on an album of previously unreleased tracks. Did Alex Welsh have the best Trad Jazz band in the UK? Certainly he didn't have the chart success or high profile of Ball, Barber & Bilk, but it was the most American sounding of the UK bands and it was the band all the visiting American Jazz musicians wanted to tour with. UK musicians were queuing up as well and this set of well recorded 'live' sessions sees the Welsh band in the company of the legendary Scottish trombonist, George Chisholm (recorded with Fats Waller in the 1930s), the renowned guitarist, Diz Disley (famous for playing with and relaunching the career of Stefan Grappelli), popular jazz vocalist, Beryl Bryden and band leader/bass saxophonist, Harry Gold (whose Pieces of Eight ran for the best part of 60 years!). Interest is added by the fact that a number of the tunes were never recorded commercially by the Welsh band so appear for the first time. Top quality playing on a highly entertaining CD.